Last Friday I got up early before work and wrote a response to Piper’s suggestion that Christianity has “a masculine feel.”
I worked on it during breakfast and while I sipped my first cup of coffee, but when it came time to hit “Post” I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Instead I shared this interview about the power of Story.
The same thing happened a few days before that, this time while I was drafting my thoughts on the controversy around Mars Hill, Driscoll’s marriage book, and some of his recent interviews. Again, I got part way through preparing my post and just stopped, unable to continue. Eventually I ended up posting something different that day as well.
Part of my hesitation is simply exhaustion. It is incredibly emotionally draining to sustain the continual outrage that sometimes feels like the only proper response to the damaging things I see being done in the name of the faith.
But it’s more than that; I’m tired in a different way, tired of defining myself by what I’m against.
There is a place for that I think, for a time. As I started to rethink the assumptions I had about of my faith – to question the theology, reconsider the social implications, reimagine what it might mean to take God and his Word seriously – it was unavoidable and perhaps even necessary that at the beginning of that journey I would find my identity in what I was against.
For a time that may be a necessary part of our stories, we have no alternative narrative yet, only the knowledge of what we have chosen to reject.
The danger is that it’s easy to get stuck there. It’s easy to go through life defining ourselves by what, or who, we are not.
I know it’s easy for me.
But I also know it isn’t healthy, not forever.
Eventually we must break away from the pull of finding our identity in conflict and opposition, and be for something.
There will be things that need to be spoken out against from time to time, but perhaps it is more important, and more effective, if we spend our energy creating something beautiful, powerful, and transformative.
We must start to tell another story, to articulate an alternative narrative that is shaped by what it affirms, what it creates, more than what it denies or destroys.
[I expanded this post this afternoon for Deeper Story - you can find it here]
Recently a friend of mine, Louis at Baker Book House, was the subject of 
Now it has become about defending one specific theory about what the bible must be, and militantly protecting the identity, security, power, fame, and yes, money, that come along with promoting that theory by attacking anyone who disagrees.
blog tour. I’d encourage you to check out the 
My first post of 2012 is up at 
Let’s be honest, the blogosphere has more authority issues than a Jay-Z album.
Now I’m not implying that only the experts should have a seat at the table, or that unless you have an advanced degree you’re not worth listening to. I’m saying that blogging tends to distort our idea of authority, and as a result we place too little value on those who have done the hard work of devoting themselves to the study of particular subjects, and too much value on traffic, links, and a good design.
Have you ever noticed that the way we talk about theology often sounds more like a Ford vs. Chevy debate than a deep discussion about the crucified-and-resurrected Lord of the world?
I grew up as a biblicist, raised in conservative Baptist and non-denominational congregations and living in a city where you can pass eight churches in about a mile and a half.
